JANUARY 12, 2015

Jeff Sutton pays $86M for Lower Fifth Ave. retail co-op

Less than a month after purchasing the Crown Building, Jeff Sutton’s Wharton Properties
has purchased a lower Fifth Avenue retail co-op near Union Square for $86 million.

Anthropologie currently takes up the entire 12,946-square-foot space at 85 Fifth Avenue,
which is split between a ground level with 15-foot-plus ceilings and a basement.
The womenswear and home goods retailer holds the lease until 2021, Crain’s reported

Lower Fifth Avenue has become a busier shopping destination in recent years, with Eataly
at its northern end and newly renovated J. Crew and Club Monaco stores to the south.

Massey Knakal Realty Services’ Bob Knakal, who is now chairman of New York investment
sales at Cushman & Wakefield, and his colleague John Ciraulo represented the seller,
a company called Caguax.

Sutton and national mall owner General Growth Properties bought the Crown Building at
730 Fifth Avenue for $1.75 billion in December, just one day after it hit the market.
In September, Sutton bought a three-building Soho portfolio from Joseph Sitt for $327 million.
[Crain’s] — Tess Hofmann